0004: My Favorite Translations of Greek Classics
Submitted by lbangs on Thu, 04/19/2001 - 04:58
Tags:
- Homer - Both Iliad and Odyssey: George Chapman
- (Nobody else even gets close (and I've read over 8 whole translations of both plus excerpts of numerous others); now both are back in print - finally! Yes, this is the translation that inspired Keats' immortal poem, and the only one that really deserves to ignite such great poetry)
- Greek Tragedies (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides): Paul Roche
- (Added bonus - You can usually find these in used book stores extremely cheap!)
- Herodotus - The History: George Rawlinson
- (Greene's is an interesting, passable modern attempt)
- Plato - Works: Francis Cornford for works he has translated (especially the Republic); Benjamin Jowett for the rest
- (Both are excellent; I prefer Cornford, but he sadly has not translated Plato's entire works)
Author Comments:
I'll add more as they come to me and/or as I discover them.
Thanks for this list, lbangs. I was actually considering reading some of these. I read some in college, but it's been a while and I've forgotten most everything about them (even the basic plot, in most cases). I will definitely take your suggestions and get the Chapman and Roche translations. :)
Thanks, Buber! In the spirit of fairness, I will warn you that the Chapman translation can take a little bit of time to grow used to. His Iliad was published in 1611 (the same year as the King James Bible!), and it can take a chapter or two for our 21st century to warm to its sounds. It helps to plunge through each sentence with vigor rather than to read slowly and to try to understand every word as you read it; hearing the sentence quickly as a whole helps the various words fall into place properly.
Anyway, I swear that the glories of his translations are well worth any work you put in them.
The Roche translations are much easier to jump into, and while many great editions (and many terrible ones) of the Greek tragedies exist, I doubt his have been bettered.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Thanks for the advice. I think I understand what you mean about how to read it. It's actually the same way I read William Gibson, as he throws out so many descriptions that try to give you a sense of the future world, but really have no direct connection for me, that I find it easier to not dwell on what he's trying to say so much and to just read. It sounds like the same kind of approach is what you recommend for Chapman.
In any case, I'll definitely be looking for these. Thanks again!
That's actually an incredibly apt comparison. After reading Chapman's Homer for awhile, you begin to feel as if you have entered another world, one quite different than our own, which is the same effect Gibson often achieves. This is excellent, of course, because the world of Homer *is* a completely different world from our own (and even perhaps from Homer's own real world), and Chapman allows his translations to act as a door instead of a window. Most translators are so concerned with making Homer easy for a modern audience to understand, that they lay out the essence of his world without ever allowing the reader to actually enter it. Their translations are windows. Chapman, however, requires some effort before you can see anything, but once the door finally swings wide - wow, it reveals a unique, thrilling, and profoundly moving sphere to dwell upon!
I'm foaming at the mouth now. Anyway, yes, it sound like you know exactly what I mean! When you do get around to Chapman's Homer, you'll have to inform of your reactions, good or bad.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I will definitely post my reactions here.
On a side note, the most recent issue of National Geographic has an article on the Black Sea. What they've found is a great deal of evidence that points to a straight at the entrance to the Sea that was suddenly open by an earthquake. They think this might have been the origin of the flood stories. In any case, the reason I point this out here is that the earthquake opening the straight may explain the origin of the crashing rocks described in the Odyssey. Just thought I'd mention it.
Very interesting. I'll have to investigate this.
There is a very good book that attempts to trace geographically the wanderings of the Odyssey (though I'm still not convinced all of the places in the work correspond to real places). I can't remember the name or author just now (The World of the Odyssey?), but I'll check it out when I get home and post it here.
Thanks for the heads-up on the article.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
By the way, if anyone is interested in Chapman's translations of Homer, there is a free online version of his Odyssey here.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Just curious, what do you think of the Fagles translations of the Homeric epics? And do you agree with me, that in the case of epics, poetic translations always transport you to another world more effectively than prose ones?
Johnny Waco
Fagles does a really good job with Homer. I may favor Chapman, but let's face it - most folks will never make it through Chapman's translations. Fagles offers a very appealing, well done alternative.
And yes, I do agree. I have read a few effective prose translations of Homer, but none of them can touch the really good poetry renditions! Reading long narrative poems can be a bit distancing nowadays, but as you noted, that's the point; they take you out of the world to another place. It is worth toughing out the disorienting period to find one's footing and explore the new frontier.
Or at least I find it is, and apparently you do too...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs